The Fire return seven starters on each side of the ball heading into their second season of competition after a 7-3 rookie season. A total of seven players that earned all-conference recognition are back, including preseason All-American running back Jarrell Reynolds, the nation's second-leading scorer from a year ago.

Coach Barefield says this about the offense:

Our offensive line has five guys that have been with us from the beginning (2013). Every sport you talk about, you want to be strong up the middle; that’s where our strength is: our line, our quarterback, and our running back. Our guys are learning and progressing exponentially. In the grasp of what we do and the understanding of what we do, I was extremely pleased last year. We picked up where we left off in the spring.

Coach Barefield says this about the defense:

Our defensive line has experience, depth, and talent. If that moves from being an area of improvement to be­ing a strength, we will have made great strides. We made a step up at linebacker. We have legitimate depth as well as experience and talent to go with it. My biggest concern would be in the secondary where we are still young and improving. I think we have people coming in that can make us better and be better than we were a year ago, but right now, they’re not proven.